City Landmarks - Cooke & Kelvey Silverware Shop

A legendary showroom patronised by Maharajas and Prime Ministers.





[Text and the picture by Mayank Austen Soofi]

They sell such stuff as dreams are made on. Tulips and Hibiscus, bracelets and key-chains, liqueur tankers and cruet sets - all in 92.5 sterling silver.

The modest exterior of the Cooke & Kelvey showroom at Connaught Place stands in sharp contrast to the boastfulness betrayed by the owners of its legendary clocks. Mr. T S Chatterjee, the showroom's manager for 30 years, remembers his appointment with Rajiv Gandhi. When asked for time, he checked his wrist watch and said, "quarter to nine, Cook & Kelvey time."

Founded by Robert Thomas Cooke and Charles Kelvey in Calcutta a year after the first war of independence, the establishment was the final word in elegance. No colonial household was considered tasteful without its silverware cutlery. Its silver caskets were presented to the Prince of Wales during his Calcutta trip in 1875. Nurtured by seven successive owners before finally passing into the 'native' hands of the Khemka family in 1946, the passion for quality remains unchanged.

Each year around 80 artists, most having picked the craft from fathers and grand-fathers, delicately temper more than thousand kilograms of silver into intricate designs in a Kolkata workshop. The perfection hushes the visitors to speechlessness. Be it the 6-armed candle stand with a lady standing on malachite stone, or a fruit bowl balanced on the backs of three elephants, or the festive Aarti Thali with exquisite blue-and-white enamel work.

"We are proud of this cutlery box," Mr. Chatterjee said as he opened a large Burma teakwood chest (with mother-of-pearl inlay work). Inside its blue velvety comfort were arrayed 132 glittering silvers. Except the England-made knifes, everything was handcrafted in Kolkata. "Only Rs 5.5 lakhs," said Mr. Chatterjee. Bargain price for a king!

It is logical that one of the oldest patrons is a former Maharaja, Karna Singh of Kashmir. Sharmila Tagore, from the house of Pataudi, likes to shop for photo-frames. Before leaving for the Dhaka SAARC summit, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh purchased few artifacts as gifts for heads-of-state. Recently silver trophies were delivered to the Chief of Army Staff. "Chief Minister Sheila Dikhit knows me by name," Mr. Chatterjee gushed.

However, 'commoners' need not feel ignored. "Our range begins from Rs 1000," Mr. Chatterjee said as he lovingly pointed to a tea-and-coffee set priced over Rs 1 lakh. We both gazed at it with silent admiration till distracted by an equally stunning twisted paper cutter - just Rs 2750!

Where 3, Scindia House, Janpath Ph 23314095

Viewpoint – Safety Pins, Pepper Spray and Other Survival Tips for Delhi Girls

How not to let the city's perverts snatch away your freedom to explore and have fun.



[By Pearl Toppo; picture by Mayank Austen Soofi]

No, I'm not paranoid. I just live in Delhi! Born and brought up here, I know the place like the back of my hand and like exploring new places in the city but let's confess - unknown faces make me nervous. It's not only my fear of being attacked by a pervert, but also because some places make me uncomfortable. Like the way the people look at me.

Ok, there's nothing out of the ordinary about my look. I dress up appropriately too. So then why the stares?

You see I'm a movie buff. Due to demanding work hours, I could manage time out only for the late night shows. But I always have to coax my ‘movie-buddy’ before this venture. You wonder what is a movie-buddy? Trust me being a girl and wanting to do things in this city, you need 'buddies' - namely movie-buddy, shopping buddy, photography buddy and a trip buddy! Each time I go for a late night show and my buddy leaves my side for few moments, I receive stares that seem to ask: What are you doing here? Are you alone? Are you looking for company?

Some stares make me feel like I am there to make a proposition!

Unlike abroad where single women go out clubbing on their own without the fear of being harassed by people, clubbing alone in Delhi is an impossible task. Okay, perhaps possible but surely not something I would want to try!

One particularly nasty place in Delhi is Connaught Place. Yes that great historic shopping district! CP after dark makes me feel like a sex trader. As the sun dips down in the sky the office-goers, shoppers, tourists, makes way for pimps, drug addicts, and prostitutes. (Yes in our CP!) There would be prostitutes sitting in autos. The drivers would double up as pimps to take customers to rest houses!

But CP is not the only seedy space for Delhi girls. How could I forget the bus rides of my college days? In my first year I commuted in DTC buses to Indraprastha College and back home in Vasant Kunj. There wasn't a single day when one wouldn't be felt up by guys. Even now shivers pulsate down my spine just thinking about it. However, soon I learnt my lesson and started carrying a safety pin - yes, a safety pin to poke anybody getting too close for comfort!

To think of it, there's no public place in Delhi where a girl won't feel nervous after dark. But amazingly this hasn't stopped me from living my life on my terms. I guess it is all about taking the right precautions.

Based on my experiences, let me share some pointers for all those girls daring enough to explore the city after sunset hours:

Try to seem purposeful when you move about. Act as if you know where you're going even if you're lost. Never express by your words or actions that you're are nervous.

Carry a pepper spray and don't be scared to use it. (A Deo spray works well too!)

Make sure at least one person knows about your whereabouts.

Avoid using poorly lit streets, narrow alleys and short cuts.

Never hesitate to create a scene if you ever encounter a bad situation.

Always follow your instincts; trust me they are strong!

Keep these in mind and you would be fine. So go ahead, explore my city...my Delhi!

[The author is a media professional who loves travelling, exploring, photography and watching movies. She runs the blogsite Journey Called Life. This article was written exclusively for The Delhi Walla.]

Bestselling List - What is Delhi Reading

[Weekly list, from June 25 to July 2, compiled by Khan Market's Bahri Bookshop; some of the comments might be in response to older lists; picture by Mayank Austen Soofi]

Dalrymple falls, Hillary Clinton rises and Khaled Hosseini rules.

NON-FICTION

1. India After Gandhi: The History of the World’s Largest Democracy
Ramachandra Guha; Rs.695.00

2. India’s External Intelligence: Secrets of Research and Analysis Wing (RAW)
Maj Gen VK Singh; Rs. 495

3. The Secret
Rhonda Byrne; Rs.495.00

4. A Woman In Charge
Carl Bernstein; Rs.895.00

5. The Clash Within – Democracy, Religious Violence and India’s Future
Martha C. Nussbaum; Rs.595.00

6. Confessions of a Swadeshi Reformer – My Years as Finance Minister
Yashwant Sinha; Rs.450.00

7. Military Inc. – Inside Pakistan’s Military Economy
Ayesha Siddiqa; £ 19.99

8. Indian Summer : The Secret History of the End of an Empire
Alex Von Tunzelmann; $ 25

9. Einstein – His Life and Universe
Walter Isaacson;$ 21.25

10. The Last Mughal : The fall of a Dynasty, Delhi 1857
William Dalrymple;Rs. 395

FICTION

1. A Thousand Splendid Suns
Khaled Hosseini; £ 5.99

2. The Kite Runner
Khaled Hosseini; £3.50

3. The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Mohsin Hamid; Rs.295

4. The Witch of Portobello
Paulo Coelho; Rs.295

5. Shantaram
Gregory David Roberts; £ 5.50

6. Simple Genius
David Baldacci; £ 5.99

7. Half of a Yellow Sun
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie; Rs.250

8. Stalin's Ghost
Martin Cruz Smith; £ 5.99

9. The Quickie
James Patterson & Michael Ledwidge; £ 6.00

10. By Which We See All Colours
Mrinalini Patwardhan Mehra; Rs.295.00

Review – Parikrama, Delhi’s First Revolving Restaurant

Dining in the thin air.

[Text by Mayank Austen Soofi; picture by Ville Miettinen]


If a revolving salon is judged by its views and height, then Parikrama (rotation for Hindi), 240 feet above Connaught Place in Antriskh Bhawan, scores an A grade.

Opened in 1991, it is Delhi's oldest and India's tallest revolving restaurant. "We carry the idea of rooftop dining a step ahead by presenting not one but all sides of the city," said GM Rajneesh Khanna.

So let's dine and do Dilli Darshan. Ignore the dumpy interior. Sip Fruit Punch (Rs 70) while gazing at Rashtrapati Bhawan. Feel uninhibited if the Jama Masjid dome inspires you for mutton Salakhi Kebab (Rs 260). Even non-vegetarians must try the crisp yet soft Paneer Tikka (Rs 150) and Bharwa Aloo (Rs150). Revive spirits with the hearty Tandoori Chicken (Rs 260) if the glistening Bangla Sahib gurdwara makes you contemplative. Is that silver ribbon of Yamuna stimulating visions of Sole? Have Fish Tikka (Rs 280). Yearning for Dal Makhani (Rs 150) and Chicken Biryani (Rs 240) while spotting trains at New Delhi railway station? Trust instincts while choosing the main courses. Order Tutty-Fruity (Rs 70) in advance so it is served before you reach the window peeking out at Central Park.

After 90 minutes of sightings, you would complete one parikrama. It's okay if you don't want to leave yet.

Meal for 2 Rs 650 Timing 12:30 pm to 12 am Ph 23721616

City Secrets - Jama Masjid Melodies

Long Play Records and old album covers entice collectors to Old Delhi.


[Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi]

Overshadowed by Jama Masjid, amidst scampering goats and the air redolent with the smell of milky chai and mutton curry, stands a nondescript shop. The unimpressive exterior belies the uniqueness of this establishment that boast of over fifty thousand music records.

Newspaper-wrapped piles of LPs, 78 and 56 RPMs sit on shelves that creak. Hemmed in by antique gramophones and faded Muhammad Rafi photographs Syed Akbar Shah, the owner, spends the market hours waiting for masjid azaans and music connoisseurs.

"My place attracts collectors, not customers," he says. Only a true collector can wade through the narrow lanes of Meena Bazaar - lined with shacks selling mostly machine tools - where the mid-day chaos resembles an ant colony under fire.

With the help of his son Zafar, Mr. Shah runs the 80-years-old Shah Music Centre. It is a treasure trove. One could while away an entire day flipping through the music albums, pausing to look at Dimple Kapadia's plump arms on the cover of 1973 hit Bobby, or admiring the portrait of young Pandit Ravi Shankar on the 1967 album, Transmigration Macabre, or frowning at a frowning Prithviraj Kapoor (1960 Mughal-E-Azam).

The 'Long Play' records that stored around twenty minutes of music, before needing to be turned over, have long since given way to CDs and now MP3s. The shop lives on through patronage from music lovers, album cover aficionados, and retroverts, who come from all over India and abroad to take a look. The first-time visitors often ask Mr. Shah whether the records actually work to which he happily plays the discs on any of his old Hand-Winding Gramophones. Reflecting the collection's eclectic character, the large-horned gramophone is as likely to play Tansen's Deepak Raga as Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture.

While the treasure trove was accumulated through years of dedication by his father, Mr. Shah exercises the same missionary spirit and attitude. His agents in cities like Calcutta, Kanpur, and Allahabad keep eyes on crumbling bungalows whose owners occasionally give away their vinyl inheritance to raddiwallas. Equally active in overseas takeovers, he claimed to using connections in London to get hold of the extremely limited copies of the 2004 film Veer Zaara – possibly the last gramophone records manufactured in India. You are free to gawk at the rare 3-record set, but it is not on sale.

Some of these countless film songs, ghazals, qawwalis, ragas, and even Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam movie numbers are so rare they cannot even be found in the libraries of music companies. I half expectantly asked for Devika Rani's 1933 film Karma and, like a magician, Mr. Shah produced it from a back shelf. (Unfortunately, the album cover did not sport her legendary kiss!) Apart from Hindustani and Western classical collection, there are delights for those who seek pleasure in Michael Jackson, ABBA, and Frank Sinatra – with stunning covers!

Though buying records here is cheaper than say, in the street fairs and flea markets of Manhattan's West Village and Chelsea, do not allow yourself to be fleeced. Exercise restrain if your first impulse upon spotting A Star is Born (topless Barbara Streisand hugging Kris Kristofferson) is to quickly pay and run with the album. Pretend outrage. Discuss, argue, and pester Mr. Shah until you arrive at a modest settlement. Finally make a note of the landmarks around Shop No. 256 when you leave. You may want to come back.

Where 256, Meena Bazaar, Jama Masjid Delhi.


Piles of LPs, 78 and 56 RPMs sit on Shelves that Creak



'Long Play' Records have given way to CDs and MP3s



Special Suitcases in-built with Hand-Winding Gramophones



Album Covers - Ashish Khan's LA Concert



Album Covers - Forgotten Bangladeshi Sensation Runa Laila



Album Covers - 16 Years Old Dimple Kapadia in Bobby



Album Covers - Shehnai Ustad Bismillah Khan



The Record Store's Rooftop Decor



Mughal-e-Azam's Black & White Romance



Album Covers - 60s Heart-throb Dev Anand



Mr. Shah has Inherited his Father's Passion



Jama Masjid Melodies



The Photographer's Self-Portrait

Interview – “I Can't Promise to be Gentle or Generous or Vicious”

Conversations with a Delhi writer on her first personal blog.

[Ms. Manika Dhama works in media. She is also a writer for The Delhi Walla; interview and picture by Mayank Austen Soofi]

Ms. Dhama, what prompted you to start your new blogsite?

I had been musing about it for a while. Sometimes I pen down the arbitrary thoughts that come to my mind in a diary. With a blog there is the option of putting your thoughts out in the open for people to read and perhaps react to. Of course I don't know if people will read the blog or enjoy it! I've just begun, fingers crossed and all that. (Smiles)

Why the name Myriad Musings and More? What's the theme?

The name happened some months back. It made a lot of sense. This blog aims to particularly deal with thoughts that flit through my mind. Sometimes one thinks a lot and perhaps it's a good idea to get these random musings out of one's system. I probably shouldn't make it sound so frivolous, but like Lord Henry says in 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' , "…if I weren't so flippant, I would kill myself".

What kind of articles should we expect?

The articles will be personal ideas about things I like or detest or just have an opinion on. That actually covers just about everything. Books, music, movies, dogs, friends, family, food, news…like I said, almost everything.

Will it have stories on Delhi?

If I muse about it, then yes (Smiles)

Nothing has been typed in caps lock in your site. Any special reason?

That wasn't a conscious decision to begin with. But a friend who read the fist post suggested that ‘no caps lock policy’ might be a great idea for a site that is so personal. And I couldn't agree more. It does give a breezier feel to it.

You co-manage a website (Defeating War & Peace) and have written articles for The Delhi Walla. How has been the experience?

Collaborating with an established writer and blogger like you was a great learning experience. The challenge of meeting self imposed deadlines and serving up something palatable for the readers of these sites was exciting. This was actually what prompted me to start something personal and new.

Which are your favorite websites?

Google and Wikipedia are my most visited search engines/sites. Apart from that I usually read blogs. Sometimes I visit cnn.com for news, youtube.com to check out videos and dictionary.com to clarify arguments with friends over grammar usage, pronunciation etc.

Do your family, friends, and colleagues have reasons to worry you may muse on them in this (public) website?

(Laughs) I'm not sure. I can't promise to be gentle or generous or vicious. While sometimes it becomes difficult to control the direction of the musings, how I write about them will be strictly monitored by me. Perhaps I'll put in footnotes stating that names have been changed to protect identities.

Any new blogsite ahead?

Not at the moment. I've just begun this new blog and it will take time to settle. And I'm aware that I haven't contributed any articles to The Delhiwalla or Defeating War and Peace in a while now. That can't be good news! However, as always, there's hope of better things to come. Who knows? (Smiles)

Thanks for talking.
You’re welcome, Mayank.

City Secrets – The Stock Market Sufi of Fatima Mai’s Dargah

Business propositions made in a unique shrine dedicated to a woman.

[Text and picture by Mayank Austen Soofi]

The sarcophagus chamber of many sufi shrines in this city is barred to women. So it is pleasantly surprising to discover a dargah dedicated to a woman. But Fatima Mai's shrine, nestled amidst the Soviet-style residential blocks of Kaka Nagar, lacks the mood – no narrow streets, slaughterhouses or kebab stalls. The area residents remain unaware of it. Even William Dalrymple skipped it in his City of Djinns.

Outside, house maids were coyly flirting with big-car drivers. Inside, the marble floor, the whitewashed walls, the copies of the Quran, and the green chaadar on the grave together tried to compensate for the indifferent locale. Suddenly a sunken-cheeked man with a scraggy beard appeared - like an apparition. Claiming to be the caretaker, he complained about the shortage of pilgrims.

"Who was Fatima Mai and why did she come to be venerated as a sufi?", I asked. I only knew she lived during the time of Hazrat Nizamuddin, Delhi's more tourist-friendly sufi saint. Himself ignorant, the caretaker frowned before going out to sit under a neem tree. Alone again, I desperately tried to feel soulful. But the tomb, revamped only a few years ago, was too DDA-esque to secrete any mystic sensuality. Bored, I stepped out to find the caretaker fiddling with his Motorola mobile phone. He looked up and shrieked that a djinn was standing beside me. (What an amusing spectacle it was!)

After calming himself, he offered a taveez that would make me rich enough to buy a flat in Kaka Nagar (I can't, of course, since the government owns all of it). But maybe I looked interested, so he asked me to bring 5 kg mustard oil, 8m of black thread, 1 kg rasgullas and a 100 rupee chaadar for the Mai's tomb. The sufi's stock market spirituality was exasperating. He also wanted a 50-rupee Idea cellular card as the taveez payment. I rolled my eyes and left, the Mai's secret remaining a secret.

Living - Loving and Leaving Sujan Singh Park

Musings of a woman born and brought up in Delhi's most elegant address.



[By Meenakshi Chauhan; pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi]

Almost everyone I know has lived in different houses but I had only one home since the day I was born...Sujan Singh Park.

Ever since the Delhi Walla Mayank Austen Soofi asked me to write on what it is like to live in this "elegant address" I have thought a lot about it. Each time it turns out to be a story of my life which is categorically not what he wants! Sorry Soofi, if I want to pen down my thoughts about this Delhi landmark, it will have to be about my life and there is no getting around it.

Talking History

Most people do not know it exists. Some who are unaware ask where this 'park' in Delhi is located. God forbid, if you come across anyone familiar with the place. Her reaction inevitably would be 'You live in upmarket Sujan Singh Park!', or better still, "Oh, isn't that where the great Khushwant Singh lives!"

Sujan Singh Park, with its red brick exteriors, high ceilings and thick walled flats is one of the rare little havens left in this city. Founded by Sir Sobha Singh, the legendary builder and real estate owner of New Delhi, he named it after his father. Owned in bits and pieces by his various grand children, residents like me, who are not related to the family, live as tenants under a trust. But please look elsewhere if you are interested in a detailed history of the place. What fascinates me is my life here.

My Nest

We fondly call it SSP. I live in G block, the only block which stands a little apart from the main complex. The rest of the colony, if you can call it that, has buildings in a clear O with the Ambassador hotel forming part of it. However as a child I wanted to live in Greater Kailash or Defence Colony or any other place where there were other kids around. The only child of my age in my block was a boy! A very shy boy at that!

Some Grumbling

Everyone loves their own house but it's a rarity that everyone will love your house. I never understood why I was the envy of my friends. You see there are several oddities in my flat - I have a living room with a fire place, but what use is that when Delhi never gets that cold? What use is a big garden with a badminton net strung across the trees when the dogs keep chasing the 'jungli' cats in the middle of the 'court'? What use is a bedroom-sized bathroom when your drains regularly overflow, cockroaches constantly appear and the Royal Doutton pot from the 1950's needs a plumber equally old to fix!

Yet, all these places have their charms. The garden with the lovely Ashoka trees planted by my father is ideal for day dreaming. In winters, it is the perfect place to soak up the sun while nights are made lovelier by big bonfires. The fireplace is ideal to hang Christmas cards. The bathroom is so spacious that you need not worry of it getting wet and slippery all over.

Mapping the House

I have lived different lives in each and every corner of this house. In the hallway - hurried pecks to the boyfriend as he would drop me home late in the night. In the study - it used to become our playground on summer afternoons. I would play teacher-teacher or office-office with my sister. (We always fought, she invariably won) Once my sister started going out for dates, her room, known as the Little Room, was where I would dream of boys and have private chats on the phone while Richard Marx would sing in the background.

No description of my house could be complete without mentioning the huge window cooler in our dining room. A cooler bigger than any I have seen in any home. A cooler I dreamt of on my long journeys home from Miranda House when it was 46 degrees and I knew my house would be a good 10 degrees cooler.

Our living room too deserves its glory. It can fill in about 15 people and still not look crowded. Its ceiling is so high we use a ladder if the curtains need to be taken down. Then there is my armchair - the best place in the world for me to read and for my dogs to sleep. Of course, there is no way of ever forgetting my mother's room where many tears have been shed by all of us.

Here is My Room

It surprises me when someone sees it for the first time and exclaims - wow your room is so huge.

For the first 18 years of my life it was my Daadi's room where I'd watch Chitrahaar on the only television in the house. Else I would play Rummy with Daadi or help her with knitting.

After she died in 1998, I was given the room on the condition I would have to move out if we have guests. Fair enough, but we always had guests! However, I gradually made it my own by first pasting posters of Bon Jovi, then hanging orange and pink curtains, and finally decorating the wall with pictures of all the people I loved and who I hope loved me.

Things changed in 2006 when I spent many months out of Delhi. Only during the travels did I come to value the uniqueness of my SSP home.

Drastic changes are expected this year. I'm getting married. Me and Aditya will live at Sector 41 in Noida. As the day draws nearer I think of my life here, of some dreams fulfilled and some shattered, of sorrows and laughter. When people ask what my biggest fear or apprehension is regarding my marriage I could think of only one - of leaving my haven...leaving my home...leaving Sujan Singh Park...forever.

A Rare Haven - Red Bricks Exterior and other Charms



Apartment No. 49 E - Khushwant Singh's Apartment!



Khushwant Singh's Library Window?



Garden for Day Dreaming



Upmarket Sujan Singh Park!



G Block Boundary - Peeing Not Permitted



Keep Away Please



Ambassador Hotel's Staff Entrance faces the G Block



How Green is the Park



G Block is Secured



Sujan Singh Park - Another View



Sujan Singh Park - From Subramaniam Bharti Road



Good Morning



Bus!

Special – Rock Bands in Delhi Hit the Phoren Jackpot

City bands go global with foreign tours and firangi fans.

[Text and picture by Mayank Austen Soofi]

After 16 years in the spotlight, the Parikrama band is to shove rock ‘n’ roll back to where it came from: England. It will perform this month at the prestigious Download Festival in Donington Park. Both hope and anxiety are running high. "If we click, doors would open for other bands too", says Dilip, the drummer. The audience in John Lennon’s land could be tough to please. Things cool in Delhi might not be so in London. So the boys are gonna make their sound heavier. They’re not leaving anything to chance, in other words. "It doesn't matter if we have had more than 1,000 concerts. If we perform an inch below the best, we'll be finished," warns bassist Chintan.

They need not worry. "I was so impressed by their playing and attitude and professionalism," says Rod Smallwood, the iconic co-founder of the Sanctuary Records who watched them perform in Bangalore early this year. It was he who pushed their case with the Download promoters.

However it's not Parikrama but Orange Street, another Delhi-based band, which started the overseas exploration in 2004 by rapping Europe with their sound. "We were exposed to new trends and had opportunities to play with talented bands," says vocalist Anirban. The Europeans lapped up the band's combo of heavy rap-rock, Indian classical and traditional Dhol - shot through an electronic bed.

The urge to network with international names and bump into new technologies also induced the electronic-intensive Jalebee Cartel to fly abroad. Having performed in France and UK last year, they now have a radio show beamed in San Francisco. Tours to Russia, Korea and Indonesia lie ahead. Jalebee follow a simple policy: "The foreign bands promote us there and we promote them here," says DJ Arjun. Meanwhile the fusion music band Indian Ocean is preparing for a North American tour while Midival Punditz is leaving for the Glastonbury Festival in UK.

However, Indian bands inevitably raise expectations for eastern exotica in overseas tours. Even the hardcore electric Jalebee resorts to bansuris and sitars. Parikrama too packed its tablas and Hindustani violins.

Won't the lucrative international engagements tempt these bands to ignore the city? "No way, Delhi is our home. It made us what we are," assures Chintan. The capital may breathe easy.

Review - Pecha Kucha Nights in Delhi

The Japanese art of conversation reaches the capital.

[Text and picture by Mayank Austen Soofi]

On a rainy Thursday night last May, a panel of designers, writers, photographers, urban thinkers, and a solitary antique collector, set about 'Mapping the City' in the British Council. It was the third Pecha Kucha Night in Delhi.

The concept, devised by two Tokyo-based architects in 2003, has individual designers presenting 20 slides for 20 seconds each. The speakers need to be fast, concise, and in sync with the quickly changing slides making the air abuzz with Pecha Kucha – Japanese for the "sound of conversation." Held regularly, the movement has spread to around 80 cities worldwide.

Since the theme was the city itself, well-worn words like 'showy', 'shallow', 'pollution' and 'poverty' were expected to be tossed around. And they were. Contrary to the spirit of the chatty style of Pecha Kucha, the presentations were clumsy, stilted and stiff. Some eminences simply read off the slides. The antique collector went overboard with pictures of pots and shipwrecks unrelated to Delhi. One writer bonded with the audience by not lifting her eyes from the laptop. Another flirted with the Pecha Kucha norms by refusing to say anything – the pictures being enough!

Yet the audience remained appreciative and applauded frequently. School teacher Ms. Rajni Sarkar, a Pecha Kucha patron who has attended all three nights, said, "The presentations throw new perspectives to our understanding of issues." But some were unimpressed. "It was dull and the talk was clichéd," Sanjit Singh, a textile designer, rued.

Even then the presentations were fun, more so because of their awkwardness. That some speakers were not eloquent, their notes not thorough and slides not impressive, could as well inspire others, who may not only be architects or designers, to claim their six minutes of podium pride. Pecha Kucha has the potential of becoming a forum for artists to introduce new works without renting galleries or cozying up to the magazine editors.

Back in the auditorium, after few minutes of an uninspiring question and answer session between the speakers and listeners, everyone gladly went out for chicken tikkas, momos (no sushi), cocktails, and Pecha Kucha.

Contact For more information on Pecha Kucha nights, mail the organisers, Center for Knowledge Societies, at pechakucha@cks.in. The next one is scheduled for July.